How Murali Vijay once played two First-class matches simultaneously

When former India opener Murali Vijay announced his retirement from International Cricket a few days ago, the Indian Cricket fans had perhaps rightfully expressed their disappointment with the BCCI for not coming up with a note of gratitude for his services.

Having played 61 Test matches in his career, his overseas centuries during India’s tours to England and Australia in 2014 were the ones of the highest class in challenging conditions. During the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy he even went on to criticize former cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar when the latter had expressed his  surprise at Vijay’s conversion rate in Tests in India.

For a minimum of ten 50+ Test innings, Vijay’s name was at the top of the list amongst Indians with 60% conversion rate, having smashed six fifties and nine centuries at home.

Despite all of it, the fact is that Vijay will be remembered by the fans for being one of the better opening batters to have represented India in the Test format.

Murali Vijay once played two First-class matches simultaneously

When Murali Vijay had made his Test debut against Australia in the year 2008 at Nagpur, little did he know that he would become perhaps the only player in the world to have played two First-Class matches simultaneously despite them being played across different parts of the country.

In November 2008, the right-hander was playing a Ranji Trophy match in Nasik for Tamil Nadu against Maharashtra. Having scored 243, he had already stitched a mammoth partnership worth 462 runs alongside Abhinav Mukund, who went on to smash a triple-century.

On ‘Day 2’ of the match, he happened to receive a call from the BCCI to inform him of their decision to include him in the team India squad for the ongoing home Test series against Australia, as opening batter Gautam Gambhir was handed a match-ban for an ugly incident with Shane Watson.

With India set to play the final Test of the home series in Nagpur from November 6 onwards, Vijay was handed his debut Test cap, and went on to score 33 off 53 deliveries in the first innings on ‘Day 1’.

Also, in Nasik, the four-day Ranji Trophy match ended on November 6, with the result being a Draw.

Thus, this is how Vijay was officially a part of two First-Class matches at the same time.

The above story was taken from the official Twitter handle of @RandomCricketP1.